Traveling Soldier
by ProudMary
Summary: AU a songfic about Rory and Jess and the war. My second try ever at a story...Please read and Review.


Title: Traveling Soldier  
  
Summary: songfic, very AU, but in my opinion very cute.  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own Gilmore Girls, or the song Traveling Soldier.  
  
AN: Okay I love this song so I decided to write a fic about it because   
it just felt right. Hopefully you like it!!! Please REVIEW… I don't   
know how I'll ever get better without them. And if you really want to   
help (I had no one to check over it for me) or just comment please   
feel free to email me at: angelicchik87@hotmail.com I love making   
friends! Enjoy!  
  
AN #2: All the part with a *at the beginning and one* at the end are the parts of the song (and the song is in order) I just couldn't for the life of me, get my computer to make things italic!!!  
  
  
Traveling Soldier  
  
  
Jess Mariano had decided to volunteer for the Vietnam War. Not   
really because he felt the need to serve his country, but because he   
wanted to leave his home, and he wanted to get away from   
everything. In his mind, it was the perfect resolution, especially   
considering he had just turned eighteen.   
  
*Two days past eighteen  
  
He was waiting for the bus in his army greens*  
  
And so he got on the bus and started on his odyssey, and he started   
re-reading Catcher in the Rye a book about another boy on another   
odyssey. And he didn't look up from his book until he'd made it to a   
small town, Stars Hollow, where he got off for lunch.  
  
Rory Gilmore walked to table 5 to take their order. She had been   
working at Luke's Diner now for a year and a half; she had to make   
money if she wanted to go to college. She got the job very easily   
considering her mom was now running Luke's. When he had   
volunteered to fight in the war he had asked Lorelai if she would run it   
for him, and of course, she accepted. So Rory got her job right away.   
And it had began: the two lovely Gilmore girls ran the diner, and even   
though sometimes they weren't very good at it, the kind and quirky   
townspeople never let them know. Finished with table 5, Rory moved   
over to take the order for table 6.  
  
*Sat down in a booth at a café there  
  
Gave his order to the girl with a bow in her hair*  
  
When Jess looked up she was right there. Her hair all curled and an   
amazing color of brown, her eyes intensely blue like they were   
reading into him. But Jess, he didn't know how to talk to her so he   
just gave his order and expected her to walk away.  
  
*He's a little shy so she gave him a smile*  
  
And then, she smiled at him. He felt like his whole world had been   
rocked, and all of a sudden he felt a little brave.  
  
*So he said would you mind sitting down for a while  
  
And talking to me I'm feeling a little low  
  
She said I'm off in an hour and I know where we can go*  
  
Rory Gilmore could not believe what she had just done . But there   
had been something to this boy; his eyes and hair were both a dark   
brown, he was good looking but he seemed impenetrable. Yet those   
eyes, she thought, they just seemed to speak to me.  
  
*So they went down and they sat on the pier*  
  
Jess, for the life of him, could not figure out why he was doing this.   
Why was he walking down to some old secluded bridge with the   
pretty waitress from the diner? He would never be able to talk to her,   
would he?  
  
*He said I bet you got a boyfriend but I don't care  
  
I've got no one to send a letter to  
  
Would you mind if I sent one back here to you?*  
  
  
*I cried  
  
Never gonna hold the hand of another guy  
  
Too young for him they told her  
  
Waitin' for the love of the traveling soldier  
  
Our love will never end  
  
Waitin' for the soldier to come back again  
  
Never more to be alone  
  
When the letter says a soldier's coming home*  
  
  
And it started. After that night on the bridge, Rory waited patiently but   
anxiously for each letter. She would read each one every night,   
savoring what they said and how they made her feel. She prayed for   
him all the time, for his safety and for her letters to reach him. In his   
letters, he told her he thought he loved her. And oh, how she wanted   
him to know that she loved him. She had been telling him in her   
letters for weeks, but she didn't know if he ever got her mail, and she   
knew once he was over in Vietnam, he would probably never.  
  
Rory,  
I miss you. Which kind of scares me, considering I've   
only met you once. But every one of the letters I get from you   
makes me feel like I've known you forever. The war over here is   
not pretty. The only thing I think I can hope for is a good book   
when I get back. If World War 1 produced A Farewell to Arms,   
then I cannot wait to see what this war can make. And you Rory,   
you can write it. I can just see you, with your dreams coming   
true, and your famous book. I will be there with you. We will be   
happy, I promise you. Our love will never end.  
  
Love,  
Lt. Jess William Mariano   
  
*So the letters came  
  
From an army camp  
  
In California then Vietnam  
  
And he told his heart  
  
It might be love  
  
And all of the things he was so scared of  
  
Said when it's getting kinda tough over here  
  
I think of that day sitting down at the pier  
  
And close my eyes and see your pretty smile*  
  
And he, of course, cherished every single one he got from her. As   
few as they might be considering how many times his location   
changed. He still held on to every one.   
  
Jess,  
I pray everyday that you will make it back here safely. I   
just finished re-reading Oliver Twist, and no matter how much   
you disagree, I think you are Dodger, my Dodger. The diner is,   
surprisingly, doing very well. It seems that people really like   
how mom and I are running the place. I know my mom loves it   
and so do I, most of the time. At least it's a way to earn money.   
I cannot wait for college, to be on my own, to be a writer, and, of   
course, to be with you. I can just see us there: studying,   
laughing, reading, and hanging out with everyone and with each   
other. Our love will never end. I miss you, come back home   
soon.  
  
All my love,  
Rory  
  
And the letters Jess sent to Rory became few and far between when   
the fighting got so bad over in Vietnam. But this did not diminish her   
spirits.   
  
*Don't worry but I won't be able to write for a while*  
  
*I cried  
  
Never gonna hold the hand of another guy  
  
Too young for him they told her  
  
Waitin' for the love of the traveling soldier  
  
Our love will never end  
  
Waitin' for the soldier to come back again  
  
Never more to be alone  
  
When the letter says a soldier's coming home*  
  
  
About a month later Rory was at a Stars Hollow High football game.   
She had to be there since she was in the marching band along with   
her best friend Lane.  
  
*One Friday night at a football game  
  
The Lord's Prayer said and the anthem sang*  
  
But nothing could prepare her for the days to come, neither Lane, nor   
her mother.  
  
*A man said folks would you bow your heads  
  
For the list of local Vietnam dead*  
  
And somewhere in her gut, Rory knew what was going to happen,   
she ran under the bleachers and covered her ears with her hands.   
But nothing could help.  
  
*Crying all alone under the stands  
  
Was the piccolo player in the marching band  
  
And one name read and no one really cared  
  
But a pretty little girl with a bow in her hair*  
  
She didn't know what to do, and who really does at a time like that?   
And she would never love another boy, for Jess would always be in   
her heart. And every night she would read his letters and pray for her   
Traveling Soldier.  
  
  
*I cried  
  
Never gonna hold the hand of another guy  
  
Too young for him they told her  
  
Waitin' for the love of the traveling soldier  
  
Our love will never end  
  
Waitin' for the soldier to come back again  
  
Never more to be alone  
  
When the letter says a soldier's coming home* 


End file.
